Rotary snow plow



NW. 14, 1939. D, G, CHA 2.179.713

ROTARY SNOW PLOW Filed May 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 14, 1939. 0. G. CHASE ROTARY SNOW PLOW Filed May 20, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I hue 1150i. M z @Wz' PWW Patented Nov. 14, 1939 2,179,713

lTED stares PATENT OFFlC ROTARY SNOW PLOW David G. Chase, Adel, Iowa Application May 20, 1938, Serial No. 209,058 Claims. (Cl. 37--43) My invention relates to the art of removing to the fans in the rear. At the lower edge of the snow and ice from roadways. It is especially plate i3 is a scraper blade I l extended downdesigned for use under extreme conditions such, wardly and forwardly, and at each side is a for instance, as when the snow is in deep drifts stationary upright cutter blade l5 projected foror tightly packed, or when it has been partially Wardly and outwardly. or fully formed into ice. In front of the plate I3 is a series of six up- My object is to provide an implement of this right shafts l6 rotatably mounted and spaced class in which the entire front of the implement apart approximately equi-distant; at the upper is covered with snow and ice cutting blades so end of each shaft is a bevel gear H in mesh with W arranged and constructed that as the implement a bevel gear l8 fixed to a rotatable shaft I9.

is advanced, any snow or ice with which it comes There are two of these shafts l9 and they are in contact Will becut into small pieces which are independently driven, as will be hereinafter deeasily removable, and further to so construct the scribed. Each shaft is is geared to three of the cutting blades that they will move. the small upright shafts it.

i5 pieces of snow and ice toward a centrally ar- 0n each of the shafts it there is a series of ranged discharge opening, lifting them upwardly material cutting and moving blades 20. Each from the lower edge of the implement, pulling blade is extended radially from the shaft and is them downwardly from the upper edge and insubstantially segmental as viewed from the top. wardly from the side edges, whereby the entire Its advance edge forms a cutter and its body 120 mass of snow or ice with which the implement portion is inclined in the form of a spiral. At comes in contact, regardless of the depth or conthe outer edge of the blade adjacent its cutting dition, will be out into small pieces and delivered edge is a cutter blade 2| arranged substantially to a point of discharge. parallel to the shaft. I preferably form these A further object is to provide an implement of blades in the fiat metal, as shown at Zia in Fig.

this class in the form of a single unit in which 5, and later the blade 2i is bent to the position 35 all of the snow and ice cutting and removing shown in Fig. 5 at Zlc. One of the important mechanism, and the engines for operating same, features of these cutting blades is, that the outer are mounted upon a frame with supporting edge of each blade isrelatively long at its adwheels so that the implement may be readily and vance or cutting edge and is progressively shorter so quickly coupled to any truck or tractor and the toward its rear edge, as clearly illustrated in so power for operating the snow or ice cutting and Fig. 5, and the outer face of the blade member discharging mechanism maybe operated inde- 2m is inclined from a maximum distance from pendently of the power for operating the truck the shaft it at its forward or cutting edge, to a or tractor. minimum distance from the shaft It at its rear 35 In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows edge. a plan view of my improved implement; By this novel construction of the cutting blades Figure 2 shows a front elevation of same; an important result is attained. Assuming that Figure 3 shows a vertical longitudinal sectional the machine was being forced by a tractor movview of same; ing at slow, uniform speed, into a bank of tightly Figure 4 shows a rear elevation of same; and packed snow or even ice, the forward or cutting g0 Figure 5 shows a horizontal sectional view of edge of each blade will cut through the ice as the one of the cutter supporting shafts looking upmachine is advancing, and the remaining portion wardly to illustrate the arrangement of the of the blades will not engage the wall of uncut cutters thereon. ice, hence, the steady advance of the machine Referring to the accompanying drawings I will not be retarded, and there will be no frichave used the reference numeral [0 to indicate tion upon the wall of uncut ice such as would generally the frame of the implement. This occur if the rear edges of'the blade were as long frame is supported by four swiveled wheels II as the front edges. By having the blades 21a and may be attached to any power operated veat the outer end of each blade 2d, the ice is cut hicle, such as an autombile truck, and steered vertically from the path of one of the blades 26 50 by the truck driver by means of push rods Hla to, aproximately the path of the next blade 20, pivoted to the frame Ill. and the shafts and blades are so close together At the front of the implement is an upright as to cut or shave 01f practically every particle plate 113 having two circular openings formed of a wall of ice into which it is moved.

therein through which material may be delivered One shaft I6 is positioned directly in front of 55 each of the said circular openings in the plate l5, and I preferably omit the blades 20 from the portion of the shaft l6 directly in front of the opening. The blades 20 at the lower portion of the shaft have portions thereof arranged in the form of an ascending spiral and those at the upper portions of the shaft in the form of a descending spiral relative to the direction of rotation of the shaft to which they are fixed. The shafts on opposite sides of the shaft directly in front of the discharge opening are geared to rotate in the direction in which the front edges of the cutters move toward the adjacent fan opening.

The relative positions of the shafts I6 and the lengths of the cutter blades are such that the paths of travel of the cutter blades are such that they approximately cover the entire area of the front of the implement, the blades of two adjacent shafts come as close together as is practicable without actually touching each other.

The adjacent blades on each shaft are spaced apart a substantial distance so that each cutting edge will engage a different part of the material being operated on and so that cut-away particles of snow or ice may move between the blades to a point of discharge.

At the rear of each of the openings in the plate i3 is a cylindrical fan housing 22, open at its front and having a tangentially arranged discharge spout 23. A fan 24 is mounted in this fan housing, and the fan shaft is projected forwardly, and. fixed to the front end is a cutter blade 24a to operate in the forward end of the cylindrical fan casing. These fan housings are rotatably supported upon the fan shafts, and the fan spouts are arranged to discharge in the same direction. I have provided a link 25a pivoted to both fan housings for jointly holding the fan spouts at the same inclination either toward the right or left of the machine and whereby the operator may grasp either fan housing and adjust its inclination and the other fan housing will be moved correspondingly.

For operating the fan and rotary cutters I have provided an engine 25 for each fan and group of cutters. Each engine is directly connected to the corresponding fan and is indirectly connected With the shaft I9 of the cutter elements through a gearing device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 28, and inclined pulleys and a belt. By this means the operator may independently control the operation of the fans and their associated cutters to operate them jointly or either one independently.

In practice I have found that with an implement of this class it is highly desirable to have it ready for instant use when an emergency arises. For this reason I have provided an implement in the form of a self-contained unit, at all times ready for instant use. It is only necessary to couple a truck or tractor to it and start the engines 25. The implement is accurately steered by the truck operator so that the operator of the implement need only control the speed of the engines 25 and direct the operator of the truck as to the proper speed and direction of travel.

Assuming that a highway is covered by a relatively thick layer of snow of uniform depth, then my implement may be advanced rapidly, the scraper I 3 and the stationary cutters l5 direct the snow toward the rotary cutting and material moving blades 20. It may be moved so rapidly that the snow may be piled up in front of the implement as high as the top of the implement and yet the cutters and fans will remove it and discharge it to a point distant from the highway.

My improvement is, however, especially desir able for use under extreme or unusual conditions. To illustrate: When a fine snow is driven by a high wind, deep drifts occur on the highway, and in some instances sand and finely divided soil is mixed with the snow in such manner as to form a firm mass, In addition to this, rain or sleet is added to the snow and thereafter becomes frozen, forming deep masses almost as hard as solid ice. Under such extreme conditions my improved implement will function efiiciently. Both engines 25 are operated at full speed and the implement is advanced slowly, each of the rotary cutter blades during its rotation cuts from the mass of material a segmental section and throws it laterally toward the center of the adjacent fan housing, and then the suction from the fan carries it rearwardly between the blades 20 and to a point of discharge. The cutter blades 20 on two adjacent shafts lfi'are so close together that any portions of the mass of material not actually touched by the cutter blades will be so thin that the action of the blades will break them down as the implement advances. This cutting action of the front of the which cut away the ings, the blades at the lower portion draw the material upwardly toward the fan opening, and the cutter blades on the shafts at the side of the fan housing rotate in opposite directions to throw the material toward the center of the fan.

driver has no difficulty in holding the implement in a straight path.

I have found that with the snow and ice removing implements now in use, and under the extreme conditions hereinbefore mentioned, the operation of the implement will pack the snow and tend to move material longitudinally of the shaft, the working surfaces of said blades being substantially segmental in shape and said blades being widelyspaced apart upon the shaft so that material may move longitudinally of the shaft between adjacent blades on the same shaft, the

outer edges of the blades from the advance edge to the rear edge being of progressively less diameter to thereby permit the machine to advance against relatively solid material between the time that the advance edge of a blade engages the material and the time that the rear edge of the same blade passes rearwardly beyond the material being cut, and a cutting blade adjacent the advance edge and outer periphery of the afore said blades, and extended substantially parallel with the shaft.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a frame to be advanced over a roadway, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, means for rotating it, a series of material moving blades fixed to the shaft, said blades being projected radially from the shaft and having their working faces arranged spirally so that during the rotation of the shaft said Working faces will tend to move material longitudinally of the shaft, the working surfaces of said blades being substantially segmental in shape and said blades being Widely spaced apart upon the shaft so that material may move longitudinally of the shaft be- I tween adjacent, blades on the same shaft, the outer edges of the blades from the advance edge to the rear edge being of progressively less diameter to thereby permit the, machine to advance against relatively solid material between the time that the advance edge of a blade engages the material and the time that the rear edge of the same blade passes rearwardly beyond the material being cut, the peripheral edge of the blade being extended to a position substantially parallel with the shaft and being sharpened at its advance edge.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a frame to be advanced over a roadway, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, means for rotating it, a series of material moving blades fixed to the shaft, said blades being projected radially from the shaft and having their working faces arranged spirally so that during the rotation of the shaft said working faces will tend to move material longitudinally of the shaft, the working surfaces of said blades being substantially segmental in shape the said blades being widely spaced apart upon the shaft so that material may move longitudinally of the shaft between adjacent blades on the same shaft, the outer edges of the blades from the advance edge to the rear edge being of progressively less diameter to thereby permit the machine to advance against relatively solid material between the time that the advance edge of a blade engages the material and the time that the rear edge of the same blade passes rearwardly beyond the material being out, and means for creating a blast of air moving rearwardly around the blades to remove material between and around the blades.

l. In a machine of the class described, the com-. bination of a frame to be advanced over a roadway, a series of upright rotatable shafts mounted in the frame, means for rotating some of the shafts in one direction and some of the shafts in the reverse direction, a series of material moving blades fixed to each shaft, said blades being projected radially from the shaft and having their working faces arranged spirally so that during the rotation of the shaft said work faces will tend to move material longitudinally of the shaft, the working surfaces of said blades being substantially segmental in shape and said blades being widely spaced apart upon the shaft so that material may move longitudinally of the shaft between adjacent blades on the same shaft, the outer edges of the blades from the advance edge to the rear edge being of progressively less diameter to thereby permit the machine to advance against relatively solid material between the time that the advance edge of a blade engages the material and the time that the rear edge of the same blade passes rearwardly beyond the material being out, a cutting blade adjacent the advance edge and outer periphery of the aforesaid blades and extended substantially parallel with the shaft, the said shafts being so spaced that the paths or travel of their blades will come so close to each other that any uncut material between the blades will be so thin as to be easily broken away upon the further advance of the machine, and means for creating a blast of air moving rearwardly around the blades to remove material between and around the blades.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a frame, supporting Wheels therefor, a horizontal scraper at the front of the frame inclined upwardly and rearwardly, upright cutter blades at the sides of the frame inclined inwardly and rearwardly, two blowers carried by the frame and arranged side by side with their inlet openings in the rear of said cutter blades and arranged to discharge material upwardly and laterally, means for operating the blowers, a series of upright rotatable shafts mounted in the frame between said upright cutters and the blowers, spaced apart approximately equi-distant from each other, means for rotating some of the shafts in one direction and others in the opposite direction, a series of material moving blades on each shaft, said blades being projected radially from the shaft and having their working faces arranged spirally so that during the rotation of the shaft said working faces will tend to move material longitudinally of the shaft, the working surfaces of said blades being substantially segmental in shape and said blades being widely spaced apart upon the shaft so that material may move longitudinally of the shaft between adjacent blades on the same shaft, the outer edges of the blades from the advance edge to the rear edge being of progressively less diameter to thereby permit the machine to advance against relatively solid material between the time that the advance edge of a blade engages the material and the time that the rear edge of the same blade passes rearwardly beyond the material being cut, and a cutting blade adjacent the advance edge and outer periphery of the aforesaid blades, and extended substantially parallel with the shaft.

DAVID G. CHASE. 

